David Carlson

Vacationing in Italy in early June 2023 before the heat wave

Wayne Christensen

Lucky you!

Gary Knodle

Do not fear for the diminished future of our grandchildren.  Fear for our immediate future.  In 1966-69, one could buy a fully-loaded new car for $4-5000. Now, for that price, one can barely buy a junk, used car.  In 1969-1970, for $17, two people could eat for a week.  What is next?

Robert Jacobson

I was wondering if that is the Amalfi Coast.  It is beautiful.

David Carlson

Yes it is on the Amalfi Coast.  The photo was taken in Positano.  We took a boat between Positano and the town of Amalfi. Other places included Venice, Rome, Lake Como and more.

Katie Williamson (Ellisen-Doe)

It's a beautiful place. I toured Italy as well and loved every minute of every place I visited Venice, Florence, Assisi, Rome, Pompeii, Amalfii coast and Isle of Capri. 😍👍

Wayne Christensen

We've so enjoyed traveling to Italy for many years. An early trip took us to a balsamic vinegar winery and head tales of one particular bottle of balsamic being handed down for generations as a wedding gift.   

We sampled 10, 20, 30, and 40 year old balsamic.

We ate our first white truffles on that trip, too.

More importantly, it seems I created an "untended legacy" for my grandkids. My son took all four of them to Italy this summer.

One learned went to a pizza-making class.

Another swam with fish.

Another tasted wine for the first time.

And the last one took a gnocchi class. Gnocchi Italian dumplings made with flour, eggs, and potatoes. His birthday was this summer and gets every year to pick dinner. He choose GNIOCCHI!

Is that legacy or what!

David Carlson

Nice posting and photos of your grandkids......My wife, son, daughter, and one of my granddaughters went on this trip in June with me.  It was a great experience. My wife, son, and I have been to Italy before, but this was the first time for my daughter and granddaughter. While at Lake  Como, we made a trip over to lugano, Switzerland.

Wayne Christensen

Thank you, David.

Gloria Chostner (Swanson)

Linda Bergquist (Johnson)

I have received an email looking for Terry Lundgren - he hasn't joined our class page, so I told the person that I would post a message and see if it gets any information.  His name is Richard Meznarich and he is looking to find Terry - If anyone has any idea where Terry is he would appreciate if you let me know,

Linda 

Robert Thomas

Cindi Hand (Guasto)

You can type in his name and his obituary will come up.  So sorry to hear this.

Gloria Chostner (Swanson)

Cherie Seger (Triolo)

Totally agree with you, Gloria! If I still lived in Rockford, I'd be there with bells on. Very important issue for many people and their families. Shout out to all those who are afraid to come out due to fear of their friends and family  turning on them. Very sad situation to live with.

William Hoglund (Hoglund)

I will pray for all dysfunctional, mentally challenged, human beings originally created to be a man or a woman by a God who loves all people and desires all to acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior.

Bill DeWert

I agree with Bill Hoglund that body dysmorphic people need prayer for their mental issues. I respect their right to their own beliefs, even if I disagree with them. At the end of life. God will be THE decider of their fate.

David Quist

Gloria Chostner (Swanson)

Gregory Swanson

Like Dave Quist, I am a Viet Nam vet, secure in my own skin kind of guy and my family is about as diverse as it gets - black, hispanic, asian - american, gay, - you get the point. Gloria and I have always been imersed in and supported diversity of life circumstances. We've been very lucky to know lots of wonderful people through social context, work and education and would not have changed those opportunities for anything. By the way - college and the military really opened my eyes to the wider world about what it was like to grow up on the lilly white, very conservative east side of Rockford.

Terry Wojcik

I held back my disappointment with Gloria's misguided promotion of Rockford's first "gay pride parade" on our class website.  After the two Bills expressed the facts of creation and secular biology that there are but two genders, I anticipated the usual liberal/progressive name calling.  David did not disappoint with his label of "intolerant bigots", one of many derogatory names for those the Left disagrees with.  Strange how this virtue-signaling tolerance does not apply to Christian beliefs and values.  Don't know what Dave and Greg's Vietnam service has to do with the subject, but if that's a prerequisite for participation, I'll throw in my 300 Vietnam combat missions and 21 plus years in the Marines.  God loves you all, but the choice of eternity is yours.

James Womble

Far more disturbing to me is a national leader referring to our lost veteran brothers and sisters as suckers and loosers.  The moral bankruptcy of the leader and those vets supporting him is unfathomable.  

Gloria Chostner (Swanson)

Robert Holmgren

Gloria Chostner (Swanson) used the phrase 'right to choose' in regard to the impending Gay Pride Parade in Rockford.  Unless I'm mistaken that phrase is in reference to abortion rather than alternate sexual expressions.  Furthermore, those for whom the parade is aimed do not make the claim that various sexual modes are choices, rather that they are created to be that way.  I have no insight into whether that is true or not.  I'm merely passing along what I've heard.

Wayne Christensen

The Rockford we all grew up in was so conservative Newsweek once wrote it was a place where John Birchers wouldn't even go. I recall it was a place that also sadly voted against building a new high school when it was sorely needed. It always felt like a place that was figuratively playing second fiddle to Chicago. In fact, our home town was literally a vast, grim, gray industrial place, as well as the second largest city in the state. With the coming Gay Pride Parade it seems like one of the national culture issues of today has yanked Rockford into a war of sorts. Maybe that's good, maybe not so much. But the warring sides of politics and religion may come to understand each other better following the parade with the help of lots of conversations and mutual respect.